Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin levin

PROJECT

Food Maps

CLIENT

Personal project

Food Maps

These food maps were inspired by a passion for travel and exploring new places through the food you eat.

We have taken many of the iconic foods of countries and continents and turned them into physical maps. These maps show how food has traveled the globe - transforming and becoming a part of the cultural identity of that place.

This project speaks to the universality of how food unites people, brings us together and starts conversation - just as we hope these beautiful maps will do too.

JURY COMMENTS

We liked how the designers shared the process of creating these maps. And they are beautiful

Food Maps

1. The Nutshell: In plain language, tell us what your project is, what it does, and what it’s comprised of.

These food maps were inspired by a passion for travel and exploring new places through the food you eat.

We have taken many of the iconic foods of countries and continents and turned them into physical maps. These maps show how food has traveled the globe - transforming and becoming a part of the cultural identity of that place.

This project speaks to the universality of how food unites people, brings us together and starts conversation - just as we hope these beautiful maps will do too.

2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the challenge posed to you?

We love to travel and food so often becomes the main narrative for our trips. In our work we aim to present food in new ways and to tell stories with it.

We wanted to take something iconic (a maps in this case) and reimagine it from something totally unexpected visually but culturally made makes sense.

As food was the medium the primary problems were what food to use, what would look good and what could be refigured in enough new ways (50 times with USA) to reflect the different political boarders within each region.

3. The Intent: What is the personal backstory; why did you create your DIY project? What point of view did you bring to the project?

We create the projects we wish we were being asked to do. Partly for personal satisfaction and as a portfolio piece to show our own ideas in our portfolios.

We made work that appeals to ourself, we believe if we like it there will be a wider audience with similar tastes.

We wanted to make iconic and generally recognizable maps. This process was selecting these countries/continents. There are a couple that we had personal ties to... USA for Caitlin and New Zealand for me.

We then made large prints as a template and guide. Then took into account disputed boarders (Kashmir, Tibet, Taiwan etc) while trying to be as politically sensitive as possible. The food didn't necessarily originate from the particular region but had become somewhat symbolic of these regions.

Racing against the clock to create the maps before the food browned and wilted and also figuring out an aesthetic so it would look good. We pulled antique map references from the golden age of travel when maps were made by cartographers, a term that we cheekily adopted, and had a graphic designer friend make an overlay that reflected this elegant and special feeling.

5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social, educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)

It is fun and beautiful. It defies a particular audience and can be enjoyed by all from kids playing with food though seasoned travelers who are reminded of their culinary adventures to chefs you can marvel at ingredients evolving into a new medium.

Screw it, lets do it! is our maxim. We have no idea of the outcome when we begin, only we want to give it our best shot. It's essentially an exercise in arts and crafts with the camera there to document the final product.

We also film the process and make a short behind the scenes for all to see our hands on process.